In a typical transformer or inductor a non-conductive body supports an electrical winding, and conductive "pins" are embedded in the body. The pins are connected to the winding, and at one of their ends the pins extend from the body to form external connection terminations (e.g., for insertion in and soldering to a printed circuit board).
The body is typically made of a thermoplastic material in which the pins are typically inserted by forcing them into undersized pre-formed holes in the body, and the winding is typically connected to a pin by the winding wire being wound around the pin and then pulled laterally away from the pin so as to tension the wire to the point at which it breaks. The wire wound around the pin is then soldered to the pin to ensure a sound and durable electrical connection therebetween.
The process of soldering subjects the pin to an elevated temperature which is sufficient to cause the thermoplastic material of the body surrounding the pin to lose its rigidity. This loss of rigidity typically allows the forces which have been applied to the pin (during insertion of the pin and tensioning of the winding wire) to be released, causing the pin to move out of alignment.
This loss of alignment typically results in the pins of the device exceeding the positional tolerances required for the device to be inserted (for example, by an automatic insertion machine) into pre-formed holes in a printed circuit board.
In order to allow such an out-of-tolerance device to be used in an automatic insertion machine, it is known to place the cooled device in a jig and to bend the pins so as to re-align them to within tolerance. However, such cold bending does not result in optimum re-alignment of the pins, since the elasticity of the pin material causes the pins to move back towards their mis-aligned positions when the bending force is removed.